...this world is only play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting among you, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children, as the likeness of vegetation after rain, thereof the growth is pleasing to the tiller; afterwards it dries up and you see it turning yellow; then it becomes straw. Al-Hadid (020)

The Arabic philosophical fable "Hayy Ibn Yaqzan" is a classic of medieval Islamic philosophy. Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185), an Andalusian philosopher, tells of a happy child raised by a doe on an equatorial island who grows up to discover the truth about the world and his own place in it, unaided - but also unimpeded - by society, language, or tradition. Hayy's discoveries about God, nature, and man challenge the values of the culture in which the tale was written as well as those of every contemporary society. Translator Lenn E. Goodman's commentary places "Hayy Ibn Yaqzan" in its historical and philosophical context. The volume features a new preface and index, as well as an updated bibliography.

In treating of this openly i have broken the precedent of our righteous ancestors,who were sparing to the point of tight-fistedness in speaking of it...these notions for esoteric the esoteric doctrines which must be kept secret from those unfit to know them...

Nonetheless I have not left the secrets set-down in these few pages entirely without a veil-a sheer one, easily pierced by those fit to do so, but capable of growing so thick to those unworthy of passing beyond they will never breach it.

...this world is only play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting among you, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children, as the likeness of vegetation after rain, thereof the growth is pleasing to the tiller; afterwards it dries up and you see it turning yellow; then it becomes straw. Al-Hadid (020)

"Science concerned with the study of systems of any nature which are capable of receiving, storing and processing information so as to use it for control."—A. N. Kolmogorov

D:

The new and rapidly growing field of communication sciences owes as much to Norbert Wiener as to any one man. He coined the word for it--cybernetics. In God & Golem, Inc., the author concerned himself with major points in cybernetics which are relevant to religious issues. The first point he considers is that of the machine which learns. While learning is a property almost exclusively ascribed to the self-conscious living system, a computer now exists which not only can be programmed to play a game of checkers, but one which can "learn" from its past experience and improve on its own game. For a time, the machine was able to beat its inventor at checkers. "It did win," writes the author, "and it did learn to win; and the method of its learning was no different in principle from that of the human being who learns to play checkers.A second point concerns machines which have the capacity to reproduce themselves. It is our commonly held belief that God made man in his own image. The propagation of the race may also be interpreted as a function in which one living being makes another in its own image. But the author demonstrates that man has made machines which are "very well able to make other machines in their own image," and these machine images are not merely pictorial representations but operative images. Can we then say: God is to Golem as man is to Machines? in Jewish legend, golem is an embryo Adam, shapeless and not fully created, hence a monster, an automation.The third point considered is that of the relation between man and machine. The concern here is ethical. "render unto man the things which are man's and unto the computer the things which are the computer's," warns the author. In this section of the book,Dr. Wiener considers systems involving elements of man and machine.The book is written for the intellectually alert public and does not involve any highly technical knowledge. It is based on lectures given at Yale, at the Société Philosophique de Royaumont, and elsewhere.

The landmark study of cultural differences across 70 nations,Cultures and Organizations helps readers look at how theythink—and how they fail to think—as members of groups.Based on decades of painstaking field research, this new editionfeatures the latest scientific results published in Geert Hofstede’sscholarly work Culture’s Consequences, Second Edition. Originalin thought and profoundly important, Cultures and Organizationsoffers vital knowledge and insight on issues that willshape the future of cultures and nations in a globalized world.

...this world is only play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting among you, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children, as the likeness of vegetation after rain, thereof the growth is pleasing to the tiller; afterwards it dries up and you see it turning yellow; then it becomes straw. Al-Hadid (020)

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"We all are to some extent [agnostic]... So yes, I'm an 'agnostic', in as much as I don't actually know what happens when I die. I choose to operate under the assumption that God does not exist. I have no need for God in my life, the concept of a 'God' feels incredibly made up to me. It is not requisite for my every day living. For some people it is. They are 'theistic agnostics,' I am an 'atheistic agnostic.'" - Cara Santa Maria